Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria

by Elphinstone Dayrell

In the days of the great famine, when all men and animals on the land were starving, the alligators and the fish in the river had plenty to eat, and the parrots and bats were also well off for food. The parrot used to fly off very early every morning with his family to an island in the river where there were plenty of palm-trees, and return in the evening carrying his bag of palm nuts with him. All the people were very jealous of the parrot in consequence, and wanted to kill him and all his family. The hare (Nchigga) was very curious to know how it was that the parrot always managed to get food, so he went to him pretending to be a great friend of his, but could never find him at home in the daytime, so he went in the evening and met the parrot returning home carrying his bag, full of palm nuts as usual. The hare asked the parrot where he got all the palm nuts from, and said he would like to go with him. But the parrot said that the hare could not go, and that he was only able to take his own family to the place where the palm nuts grew.

The hare then went home, but made up his mind to go with the parrot, so that very night he hid himself in the parrot’s bag. At daylight the parrot put his bag round his neck and flew off with his family to the island. He then began to gather the palm nuts, and to fill up his bag. Now the palm-tree where the parrot was overhung the river, and the hare, thinking he would pay the parrot out for refusing to bring him, made a hole in the bottom of the bag so that the nuts dropped through into the water as fast as the parrot put them into the bag. When the parrot began to eat some of the nuts, the hare eat some also, and when the parrot dropped the kernel the hare dropped his at the same time through the hole in the bag. The parrot did not notice this, as he thought that some of his family were also eating close at hand, so he continued to put nuts into the bag, but could not understand why it was that the bag did not get full. At last the parrot thought there must be a hole in the bag, so he looked inside and found the hare there.

Then the parrot said, “My friend, what are you doing in my bag? Did I not tell you that I would not take you to the place where I got my food from? You must have hidden yourself in my bag without my knowledge.” He then pulled the hare out of the bag, and having placed him on the top of the palm-tree, flew off to the next tree, where he was joined by the rest of his family, to whom he related the way in which he had punished the hare, and shortly afterwards they all flew home, leaving the hare on the island.

The hare managed with some difficulty to climb down the tree, but when he reached the ground he was afraid to cross over to the land from the island, as he thought the alligators or big fish might catch him. He looked all round the island for a place to make his house in, but it was all wet, as the river was high; so the next day he determined to swim across the river, and risk being eaten. But before the hare started he threw some small bits of dried stick into the river and watched the fish come up and look at them. When he saw that he was bigger than the fish, he said, “They cannot eat me,” and without much fear jumped into the water and began to swim across.

The fish came round the hare and saluted him, saying, “Go on your way in peace.” Just as he got near the land, however, he came across a large female alligator, who asked him where he came from and where he was going. When he said that he was swimming from the island towards the land the alligator caught him, saying, “I want you to do me a service first, and then I will let you go.”

She then took the hare to her house at the bottom of the river, where she introduced him to her husband, and said, “This man can paint our children, and make them look nice to all people.” At this time the alligators were grey-coloured without any markings, and had for some time been wanting to change their colouring.

Then the hare said, “I see you have many young alligators here, and I will paint them all for you, but you must not look at me while I am doing it. I will paint one of your children every day and show it to you, but you must first of all build me a house, into which you must put all your children, with plenty of food and firewood.”

The next day the alligators built the house, and did everything the hare told them, a small hole being left in the wall of the house so that the hare could show the alligators each child as he painted it. The hare then went into the house and shut the door carefully. That day he painted the alligators’ eldest son with long-dark stripes across his body, and when he had finished he held the young alligator up to the hole for his parents to see, and asked them if they were satisfied. The old alligators told the hare that he had painted their son very well, and they were pleased. So the hare put the young alligator on the ground and closed the hole.

That evening the hare killed one of the young alligators and eat it. The next day he held up the alligator he had already painted to the hole for the old ones to see, and then put it down again, closing the hole as before. When night came he again killed another young alligator and eat it. The same thing happened every night until the hare had eaten all the young alligators except the one he had painted and showed to the parents each morning.

The hare then told the alligators that he had finished painting all their children, and wanted to go home, but he told them that they must not go into the house until after he had gone, as if they did his ju-ju would be broken and all the painting would be spoiled. He also asked them to allow him to be rowed across the river by an iguana, who is deaf and cannot hear anyone shouting.[6]